Pull tab of slide fastener slider and method of manufacturing the same

ABSTRACT

The object is to provide a pull tab in which core members having various decorative members are previously manufactured and any of the core members is selected corresponding to an order and injection molding is performed in such a manner that the core member can be seen through a resin. In the fabrication of a pull tab of a slide fastener slider a core member integrally connects, through an intermediate portion, a slider body coupling member for a connection to a slider body portion and a decorative member for a decoration, the intermediate portion has a common shape, the decorative member is connected to the intermediate portion to have a size within a certain range, and a resin through which a part of the intermediate portion and the decorative member can be seen is subjected to injection molding therearound.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention relates to a pull tab of a slide fastener slider,which is formed by injection molding a transparent thermoplastic resinaround a core member constituted by a metallic slider body couplingmember and a decorative member.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Japanese Utility Model Publication Sho 62-85114A discloses, asshown in FIG. 13, a pull tab of a slide fastener slider in which ahollow portion 101 is formed in a transparent body 103 of a pull tab, anidentification tag 105 showing a logo mark or a name is inserted intothe hollow portion 101 and an opening 107 is sealed by a plug 109.

[0005] Japanese Utility Model Publication Hei 6-37718B discloses, asshown in FIG. 14, a pull tab of a slider in which a pull 151 provided atthe end of a pull body 153 formed of a metal or a hard plastic isobtained by injection molding a nonrigid plastic into a hole portion 155provided on the pull body 153.

[0006] A main object of the invention is to provide a pull tab of aslider fastener slider in which a decorative member is present in thepull tab, a thermoplastic resin through which the decorative member canbe seen is injection molded around the decorative member to be covered.Thus, the decorative member can be seen through the surface of the pulltab. As a result, the pull tab which is high level from an aestheticpoint of view is obtained. On the other hand, according to the pull tabshown in FIG. 13, the identification tag 105 showing logo marks isinserted into the transparent body 103 of the pull tab and sealed by theplug 109. The pull tab does not aim at a decoration and there is aproblem that the fabrication of the pull tab is carried out at muchexpense in time and effort and cannot be carried out at once.

[0007] According to the pull tab shown in FIG. 14, the hole portion 155is provided at the tip of the pull body 153 to form a pull attachmentportion and a nonrigid plastic having sufficient flexibility andelasticity to completely fill up the hole portion 155 and to cover awhole surface including the contour of the pull attachment portion isinjection molded over the pull attachment portion to form the pull 151.As the pull tab does not aim at a decoration, there is a problem thatthe pull tab cannot be used to be aesthetically pleased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] A first object of the invention is to provide a pull tab of aslide fastener slider wherein a decorative member having a certain sizeis present in the pull tab formed of a thermoplastic resin, and thedecorative member includes various decorative portions and is formed bya core member integrated with a slider body coupling member, variouscore members are previously manufactured and stored, a core member isselected corresponding to the order of a customer and is utilizedrapidly and efficiently, and a pull tab formed of a resin through whichthe decorative member can be seen is fabricated and supplied to thecustomer. In addition, a pull tab of a slide fastener slider of highquality in which the pull tab itself can be finished strongly and acoupling to a slider body can be also carried out firmly.

[0009] A second object of the invention is, in addition to the firstobject, to provide a pull tab of a slide fastener slider wherein themetallic core member has intermediate portion having a common sectionalshape even if the decorative portions having various configurations topromptly conform to the order of a customer by injection molding rapidlyand efficiently with a metal mold having the same configuration.

[0010] A third object of the invention is, in addition to the firstobject, to provide a pull tab of a slide fastener slider having anintermediate portion which specifies the configuration of the sliderbody coupling member for connecting the decorative member to the body ofthe slider and can easily connect with the body of the main slider.

[0011] A fourth object of the invention is to provide a method ofmanufacturing a pull tab of a slide fastener slider in which a coremember having various decorative members and a slider body couplingmember formed integrally is previously manufactured and stored, and thecore member is easily provided and accommodated in the cavity of a metalmold in order to meet the needs of a customer even if a small number ofkinds of decorative members are used in accordance with an order, andthe pull tab having the decorative member which can be seen through aresin can be manufactured rapidly and easily.

[0012] A fifth object of the invention is, in addition to the forthobject, to provide a method of manufacturing a pull tab of a slidefastener slider in which the same kind of decorative members ordifferent kinds of decorative members are properly disposed andaccommodated in several cavities provided in the metal mold and the pulltab to meet needs can rapidly and easily correspond to diversifiedsmall-quantity production.

[0013] According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided apull tab of a slide fastener slider wherein a pull tab 2 of a slidefastener slider is fabricated by integrally joining, through anintermediate portion 10, a slider body coupling member 7 for coupling toa body 1 of a slider and one of various decorative members 8 fordecorating the pull tab 2 to form a core member 9, the intermediateportion 10 is formed to be in a certain shape, joining the decorativemember 8 which size is within a certain range to the intermediateportion 10, and covering a part of the intermediate portion 10 and thedecorative member 8 with a transparent or translucent resin throughwhich they can be seen by integrally injection molding to form the pulltab 2.

[0014] According to a second aspect of the invention, in addition to thefirst aspect of the invention, the intermediate portions 10 of theslider body coupling members 7 is respectively in common sectional shaperegardless of the configuration of the core members 9 and the decorativemember 8 is obtained by integrally forming the core members 9 havingvarious configurations with a metal, for example, zinc alloy or aluminumalloy through die casting means.

[0015] According to a third aspect of the invention, in addition to thefirst aspect of the invention, the slider body coupling member 7 of thepull tab 2 is formed by protruding a U-shaped arm 11 from theplate-shaped intermediate portion 10.

[0016] According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in addition to thefirst aspect of the invention, the slider body coupling member 7 of thepull tab 2 is formed by protruding a pair of left and right arms 11 fromthe plate-shaped intermediate portion 10 and disposing a shaft portion12 on tips of the arms 11.

[0017] According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided amethod of manufacturing a pull tab 2 of a slide fastener slider havingthe steps of forming a core member 9 in one piece by metal die castingmeans, which is configured as to connect various decorative members 8having sizes within a certain range to a slider body coupling member 7through an intermediate portion 10 being in a certain common shape,selecting any of various core members 9 which are formed and storedaccording to an order, disposing and accommodating the selected coremembers 9 in several cavities 26 being in a certain shape which providedin a metal mold 20, and thereafter covering a part of the intermediateportion 10 and whole surroundings of the decorative member 8 of the coremember 9 with a transparent or translucent resin through which the partof the intermediate portion 10 and the decorative member 8 can be seento form the pull tab 2 by injection molding means.

[0018] According to a sixth aspect of the invention, the core members 9having the decorative members 8 of which patterns are the same kind aredisposed in several cavities 26 provided in the metal mold 20 and athermoplastic resin is then molded by the injection molding means.

[0019] According to a seventh aspect of the invention, the core members9 having the decorative members 8 of which patterns are different kindsare disposed in several cavities 26 provided in the metal mold 20 andthe thermoplastic resin is then molded by the injection molding means.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a slider to which apull tab having a pair of arms is attached;

[0021]FIG. 2 is a side view showing the slider;

[0022]FIG. 3 is a front view showing the pull tab of the slider;

[0023]FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along a line A-A in the pull tabof the slider;

[0024]FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a slider to which apull tab having a U-shaped arm is attached;

[0025]FIG. 6 is a front view showing a variant of the pull tab;

[0026]FIG. 7 is a front view showing another variant of the pull tab;

[0027]FIG. 8 is a front view showing a further variant of the pull tab;

[0028]FIG. 9 is a front view showing an upper mold in a metal mold;

[0029]FIG. 10 is a side view showing the upper mold;

[0030]FIG. 11 is a front view showing a lower mold in the metal mold;

[0031]FIG. 12 is a side view showing the lower mold;

[0032]FIG. 13 is an exploded perspective view showing a well-known pulltab; and

[0033]FIG. 14 is a front view showing another well-known pull tab.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0034] A pull tab of a slide fastener slider according to a embodimentof the invention will be concretely described below with reference tothe drawings.

[0035] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a pull tab of a slide fastener slideraccording to the invention relates to a pull tab 2 to be coupled to aclamper 4, which is provided in a slider body 1, for coupling with thepull tab 2. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the pull tab 2 has a slider bodycoupling member 7 at one end. The slider body coupling member 7 has apair of arms 11 protruded on the left and right of a plate-shapedintermediate portion 10. A shaft portion 12 to be couple to the damper 4is provided on the tip of the arm 11. A strut portion 14 is connected tothe intermediate portion 10 of the slider body coupling member 7. Thestrut portion 14 has a decorative portion 15 having various patterns,for example, hollow arrowhead patterns. The strut portion 14 and thedecorative portion 15 form a decorative member 8 as a whole, which has asize within a certain range. The slider body coupling member 7 and thedecorative member 8 are integrally coupled to form a core member 9.

[0036] The core member 9 obtained by coupling the slider body couplingmember 7 and the decorative member 8 is formed by die casting with ametal such as zinc alloy or aluminum alloy. A part of the intermediateportion 10 and whole surroundings of decorative member 8 of the coremember 9 are covered by a colorless and transparent or translucent, orcolored transparent or translucent thermoplastic resin through which apart of the connecting member 10 and the decorative member 8 can beseen, for example, polyamide, polyacetal, polypropylene or polybutyleneterephthalate, with injection molding means with to integrally fabricatethe pull tab 2. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the pull tab 2 will becoupled to the slider body 1 by inserting and fixing the shaft portion12 provided on the slider body coupling member 7 of the pull tab 2 to ahook portion 5 of the damper 4 provided with a pull attachment portion 3protruded from the upper surface of the slider body 1. A U-shaped springpiece 6 is attached to the base portion of the hook portion 5 in theopening part of the hook portion 5 and the shaft portion 12 inserted inthe hook portion 5 is sealed with the tip of the spring piece 6 to blockthe slip-off of the shaft portion 12.

[0037] As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, another type of the slider bodycoupling member 7, a slider body coupling member 7 a has a U-shaped arm11 a protruded from one end of the plate-shaped intermediate portion 10and the strut portion 14 a or 14 b provided at the other end of theplate-shaped intermediate portion 10. A core member 9 b in which adecorative portion 15 b decorated with a petal pattern and having a sizewithin a certain range is formed on the strut portion 14 a or 14 b isformed by die casting. Thereafter, a thermoplastic resin through which apart of the intermediate portion 10 and the whole decorative member 8 aor 8 b can be seen is injection molded therearound to cover the coremember 9 b so that the pull tab 2 a or 2 b is fabricated. In the pulltab 2 a or 2 b thus fabricated, as shown in FIG. 5, the U-shaped arm 11a is inserted from an opening on the rear side of the pull attachmentportion 3 a protruded from the upper surface of the slider body 1 a andthe opening portion is pressurized to prevent the U-shaped arm 11 a ofthe intermediate portion 10 from slipping off from the pull attachmentportion 3 a.

[0038] There are many variants related to the decorative portion 15 ofthe decorative member 8 of the pull tab 2. However, the decorativemember 8 is formed in a size within a certain range, that is,predetermined dimensions of a length, a width and a thickness, and theintermediate portion 10 is formed in a shape of a plate and in a certainand common sectional shape. The strut portion 14 of the decorativemember 8 is connected to the intermediate portion 10 and the decorativeportion 15 having various patterns are additionally provided on thestrut portion 14, then the core member 9 is formed by the die casting. Alarge number of core members 9 having various shapes can be providedidentically and accommodated in a cavity 26 of a kind of a metal mold20. Thus, it is possible to fabricate the pull tab 2 capable of seeingthe beautiful decorative member 8 which can be injection molded, has norun-out and does not generate burrs under the same conditions. Thesectional shape is a shape crossed in the direction orthogonal to thedirection from the slider body coupling member 7 to the decorativemember 8.

[0039] According to the pull tab 2 c shown in FIG. 7, the intermediateportion 10 of the slider body coupling member 7 has a pair of arms 11protruded on the left and right and the strut portion 14 c is connectedto the intermediate portion 10 having the shaft portion 12 provided onthe tips of the arms 11, and the core member 9 c having the strutportion 14 c provided additionally with the decorative portion 15 cdecorated with a crescent and a star is subjected to the die casting,and the injection molding is carried out around a part of theintermediate portion 10 and the whole decoration member 8 c to becovered by using a thermoplastic resin through which they can be seen.Thus, the pull tab 2 c is fabricated. An example of the use of the pulltab 2 c is intended for the same slider body as the slider body 1 shownin FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0040] According to the pull tab 2 d shown in FIG. 8, the U-shaped arm11 a is protruded from the plate-shaped intermediate portion 10 of theslider body coupling member 7 a and a disc and an annular ring tofunction as the strut portion 14 d which is to be provided on the otherend of the intermediate portion 10 are connected and the decorativemember 15 d is continuously provided, and the core member 9 d thusobtained is subjected to the die casting. Then, the injection molding iscarried out by using, around a part of the connecting member 10 and thewhole decorative member 8 d to be covered, a thermoplastic resin throughwhich they can be seen. Thus, the pull tab 2 d is fabricated. An exampleof the use of the pull tab 2 d is intended for the same slider body asthe slider body 1 a shown in FIG. 5.

[0041] Next, a method of manufacturing the pull tab of a slide fastenerslider according to the invention will be described. In the slider pulltab 2 of a slide fastener slider according to the invention, variouskinds of core members 9 obtained by joining the slider body couplingmembers 7 and the decorative members 8 are at first formed by the diecasting with a metal such as zinc alloy or aluminum alloy. All of thedecorative members 8 of the formed core members 9 have sizes within acertain range, and the intermediate portion 10 is also in plate-shape tohave a certain thickness and width. The core members 9 having varioustypes of patterns are subjected to the injection molding by using themetal mold 20 which can be used in common. Thus, the pull tab 2 having agood appearance without burrs on a product can be fabricated.

[0042] As shown in FIGS. 9 to 12, the metal mold 20 has an upper mold 21and a lower mold 22 which are provided with a cavity 26 having a shapeas to conform to the outside shape of the pull tab 2. The core members 9constituted by the slider body coupling member 7 and the decorativemember 8 are provided in the cavity 26 and a molten thermoplastic resinis flowed into the cavity 26 through a spool 23, a runner 24 and a gate25 to mold. The characteristic of the invention is the following. Thecore members 9 having various kinds of patterns are previously formed bythe die casting with zinc alloy, aluminum alloy or the like to produceand be stored. Any of the stored core members 9 is selected according tothe needs of a customer and is disposed and accommodated in the cavity26 provided in one metal mold 20, and a resin is then subjected to theinjection molding. Consequently, it allows the small-quantity productionof various pull tabs 2.

[0043] For the diversified small-quantity production of the pull tab 2,the decorative members 8 having various decorative portions 15 areformed to have sizes within a certain range, and furthermore, the sizeand shape of the intermediate portion 10 for joining the slider bodycoupling member 7 to the decorative member 8 are set to be common invarious core members 9. In such a manner, the same kind of core members9 can be disposed and accommodated in the cavity 26 provided in onemetal mold 20 to injection mold a resin. Moreover, different kinds ofcore members 9 can be disposed and accommodated in the cavity 26 withoutchanging the metal mold 20, thereby carrying out the injection molding.Furthermore, the core members 9 of which type is different are disposedand accommodated in several cavities 26 provided in the metal mold 20respectively to injection mold, so that the pull tabs 2 having differentdecorative portions 15 can also be fabricated at once. In FIGS. 11 and12, 27 denotes a groove portion for inserting and fixing a jig to holdthe core member 9 disposed in the cavity 26 into a normal position.

[0044] The pull tab of a slide fastener slider and the method ofmanufacturing the pull tab of the embodiment according to the inventionhave the structure described above. By this structure, the followingadvantages can be obtained.

[0045] According to the first aspect, the pull tab 2 is formed byintegrally, through an intermediate portion 10, a slider body couplingmember 7 and one of various decorative members 8 to form a core member9, the intermediate portion 10 is formed in a certain shape to join withthe decorative member 8 having a size within a certain range, and a partof the intermediate portion 10 and the decorative member 8 are coveredby a resin through which they can be seen. Consequently, theintermediate portion 10 is in a certain shape and the decorative member8 has a size within a certain range. Therefore, the cavity 26 in themetal mold 20 do not need various kinds of shapes and various coremembers 9 can be accommodated in a kind of cavity 26 to injection mold,so that the cost of the metal mold can be reduced. Moreover, there issuch an advantage that various decorative pull tab to meet the needs ofa customer can be manufactured rapidly, and furthermore, it is possibleto form the pull tab 2 having a good appearance through which thedecorative portion 15 can be seen.

[0046] According to the second aspect of the invention, in addition tothe advantage of the first aspect of the invention, the intermediateportion 10 of the slider body coupling member 7 has a common sectionalshape and the decorative member 8 is obtained by forming the coremembers 9 to be various configured through metal die casting.Consequently, it is possible to readily form, by the die casting, a coremember 9 which can easily be utilized. In addition, the core member 9has a kind of shape in which the sectional shape of the intermediateportion 10 is common even if various decorative members 8 are formed.Therefore, it is not necessary to provide several kinds of cavities 26of the metal mold 20. Thus, it is possible to obtain such an advantagethat the pull tab 2 having various kinds of decorative portions 15 canbe produced rapidly, efficiently and easily by a kind of cavity 26 toconform to the order of a customer.

[0047] According to the third and fourth aspects of the invention, inaddition to the advantage of the first aspect of the invention, theslider body coupling member 7 is formed by protruding a U-shaped arm 11the intermediate portion 10 which is plate-shaped or the slider bodycoupling member 7 has a pair of left and right arms 11 a protruded fromthe intermediate portion 10 which is plate-shaped and a shaft portion 12is provided on tips of the arms 11 a. Consequently, there is such anadvantage that it is possible to finish a pull tab 2 which can easily beapplied to the pull attachment portion 3 of sliders 1 having almost allconfigurations, for example, a free slider and a slider having anautomatic shut-down device.

[0048] According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the method ofmanufacturing the pull tab has the steps of forming a core member 9 byjoining various decorative members 8 having sizes within a certain rangeto a slider body coupling member 7 through an intermediate portion 10being in a certain shape, selecting any of various cores members 9 basedon an order, accommodating the core member 9 in a cavity 26 having acertain shape provided in a metal mold 20, and then injection molding aresin through which a part of the intermediate portion 10 and thedecorative member 8 of the core member 9 can be seen in order to coverthem. Consequently, various core members can easily be manufactured andstored in advance. Accordingly, the core member 9 can easily be disposedin the metal mold 20 corresponding to the order of a customer so thatthe pull tab 2 formed of a resin can be manufactured rapidly. Inaddition, there is such an advantage that it is possible to manufacturea beautiful pull tab in which a core member can easily be provided onthe inside to see through a decorative portion.

[0049] According to the sixth and seventh aspects of the invention, inaddition to the advantage of the fifth aspect of the invention, severalcavities 26 are provided in the metal mold 20, and the core members 9having the decorative members 8 having the same kind of patterns areaccommodated in the cavities 26 and a resin is then injection molded,and the core members 9 having the decorative members 8 having differentkinds of patterns are accommodated in the cavities 26 and the resin isthen injection molded. Consequently, there is such an advantage thatpull tabs having the same kind of patterns or different kinds ofpatterns can be fabricated precisely and rapidly irrespective of aquantity. Thus, the advantages obtained by the invention are veryremarkable.

What is claimed is:
 1. A pull tab of a slide fastener slider,comprising: a core member formed by integrally joining, through anintermediate portion, a slider body coupling member and decorativemembers; and a resin cover-molded around the decorative member, throughwhich the covered part can be seen.
 2. The pull tab of a slide fastenerslider according to claim 1, a part of the intermediate portion iscover-molded by the resin.
 3. The pull tab of a slide fastener slideraccording to claim 1, the decorative member is formed variously, and theintermediate portion is formed in a certain shape.
 4. The pull tab of aslide fastener slider according to claim 3, wherein the intermediateportion of the slider body coupling member has a common sectional shape.5. The pull tab of a slide fastener slider according to claim 4, theresin cover-molded around the various decorative member is in a shaperegardless of any shape of the decorative member.
 6. The pull tab of aslide fastener slider according to claim 1, the decorative member iscontinuous with a strut portion joined to the intermediate portion, andthe decorative member has a decorative portion opposite to theintermediate portion.
 7. The pull tab of a slide fastener slideraccording to claim 6, the decorative portion is in a shape of arrowhead.8. The pull tab of a slide fastener slider according to claim 7, thedecorative portion in an arrowhead-shape has a hole pierced through bothsides of the decorative portion.
 9. The pull tab of a slide fastenerslider according to claim 6, the decorative portion has a part in acrescent-shape and a part in a star-shape.
 10. The pull tab of a slidefastener slider according to claim 9, the strut portion joining thedecorative portion to the intermediate portion is in a shape of rod. 11.The pull tab of a slide fastener slider according to claim 1, thedecorative portion has a plurality of disks which are continuous withthe intermediate portion.
 12. The pull tab of a slide fastener slideraccording to claim 11, at least one of a plurality of disks is annularring which has a hole pierced through both sides of the pull tab. 13.The pull tab of a slide fastener slider according to claim 1, thedecorative member is continuous with a strut portion joined to theintermediate portion, and the decorative portion is protruded throughthe strut portion in a direction orthogonal to a direction trough bothsides of the pull tab.
 14. The pull tab of a slide fastener slideraccording to claim 13, the decorative portion is partly protrudedthrough the strut portion.
 15. The pull tab of a slide fastener slideraccording to claim 14, the decorative portion is in a shape of pluralpetals.
 16. A method of manufacturing a pull tab of a slide fastenerslider, comprising: wherein forming a core member is formed by joiningconnecting various decorative members to a slider body coupling memberthrough an intermediate portion being in having a constant certainshape; accommodating any one of various core members in a cavityprovided in a metal mold; and then injection molding a resin throughwhich the decorative member can be seen in order to cover the decorativemember.
 17. The method of manufacturing a pull tab of a slide fastenerslider, according to claim 16, various core member has the intermediateportion in a certain shape, the cavity is in a certain shape, and theresin is injection molded around a part of the intermediate portion ofthe core member.